Bidders are said to be Hynix, Micron, Foxconn, Tsinghua, Western Digital and Bain.

Hynix is said to have offered $2.6  billion for the stake.

Toshiba says that it will not decide who gets the stake based solely on the size of the bid.

Toshiba needs the money because the value of its equity is $3.6 billion and the amount of the debt incurred by losses at its nuclear unit is thought to be $6.2 billion.

Toshiba is expected to announce the size of the nuclear loss on Valentine’s Day.

EArlier this week, Toshiba said it had started building its multi-billion dollar Fab 6 and R&D Centre at Yokkaichi.